Charnea

Republic of Charnea ⴰⵊⴰⵎⵀⵓⵔⵢⴰ ⵏ ⵞⴰⵔⵏⴻⴰ Ajamhurya n Charnea
Flag Seal
Capital and largest city	Agnannet
Official languages	None
Recognised national languages	Tamashek (de facto)
Recognised regional languages	Randeshret Tamahaq Tawellemmet Darja
Ethnic groups (2024)	62.9% Tenerians  ∟51.8% Kel Aɣrem  ∟11.1% Kel Ajama 15.4% Deshrians 13.8% Gharibs 3.6% Zarma 2.1% Tebu 1.2% Chamals 1.0% Other
Demonym(s)	Charnean
Government	Unitary stratocratic republic
• Amizar	Khyar Aziouel
Legislature	Agraw Itkar
Area
• Total Area	2,130,656 km2 (822,651 sq mi)
• Water (%)	0.0084%
Population
• 2022 estimate	27,023,983
• 2020 census	26,995,572
• Density	12.68/km2 (32.8/sq mi)
GDP (PPP)	estimate
• Total	$599 billion
• Per capita	$22,179.45
Gini	44.4 medium
HDI	0.801 very high
Currency	Azref Aga
Date format	mm.dd.yyyy
Driving side	right

Charnea, officially the Republic of Charnea (Tamashek: ⴰⵊⴰⵎⵀⵓⵔⵢⴰ ⵏ ⵞⴰⵔⵏⴻⴰ, Ajamhurya n Charnea), is a landlocked country in central Scipia. The territory of Charnea spans the majority of the Ninva desert, bounded by the Arwa range in the west and the Kija river in the east. Charnea is bordered to the north by Talahara, Tyreseia, Khemetu and Alanahr, to the east by Happara, Fahran and Kembesa, and along the mountainous southern boundary by M'biruna and the Amayana Makgato and Solar Temple states of the Karana basin. Agnannet is the capital and primate city of Charnea, located in the urbanized Achra triangle.

The Republic is a military democracy established by elements of the Charnean Army following the political disintegration of the Charnean Empire in the mid-2010s. The Ihemodian Revival, a Ninvite pan-nationalist movement invoking the historical legacy of the 14th century conqueror Ihemod Imekkusa, is the dominant political current in the Republic. While the Revivalists generally seek to integrate Charnea's large historically marginalized minorities such as the Deshrians and Darja speaking Hatherians into the new Republican society, the legislature, national bureaucracy and Army remain in the hands of the Tenerian majority, particularly Ajamites of rural nomadic extraction in the latter case.

Charnea undertook a program of intensive industrialization beginning in the early 20th century, transforming the country through a state capitalist model of centralized economic planning. Although lucrative resource beds would later be discovered, much of Charnea's formative economic development driven by an apparent dearth of natural resources in the Charnean Ninva would focus on establishing a carefully planned manufacturing sector supplied with imported raw materials by the Trans-Ninvite Railway. The scarcity of water in particular established a pattern of development which favored economic and demographic consolidation into highly concentrated urban zones emerging where local water resources could sustain them, connected to resource beds, international commerce and to each other by the rail network. Despite the harmful effects of recent political instability and long-term social inequality, the Charnean economy has transformed the inhospitable Ninva into a modern and developed country.

Etymology

The exact origins and meaning of the name of Charnea is heavily in dispute. The prevailing theory is that the modern Charna as it is rendered in Tamashek is a corruption of the Deshrian word Shasramt meaning "traveling people" referring to the ancestors of the Tenerians who reverted to a nomadic pastoral lifestyle following the collapse of the urbanized Tamazghan Confederation in the 3rd century. Shasramt was likely adopted as a term for the lands and peoples of the central Ninva desert some time after the rise of the Ihemodian Empire. The Tenerian endonym for the land is simply Tenere meaning "desert", referring to the arid landscape of the Ninva. However, this term is generally applied only to the historically Tenerian region of the western Ninva. The Ninva east of the Adjer mountains instead bears the Hatherian name of Zahra which has the same meaning as Tenere.

Government

The Republic of Charnea is a democratic stratocracy in which political rights are contingent on voluntary national service in the Charnean Army or a military sanction. Like the Charnean Empire that preceded it, the Republic does not have a formal constitution. The mechanisms of the Republic's government and democratic system are instead outlined in the 2018 Edicts of Agnannet which established a parliamentary system of government in which the right to vote and hold office would be granted to anyone who completes a 2-year period of military service, while the 2022 Declaration of Principles would later allow for meritorious non-military forms of service to be rewarded with an official sanction granting the same rights. The closest analogue to the unorthodox Charnean system is the federal military regime in neighboring East Itayana.

The Agraw Itkar is the supreme legislative assembly of the Republic, comprised of deputies representing the eligible electorate both within and without the active military. Voting districts of the Agraw, where are known as Corps, are not geographically demarcated and are instead defined by the formation in which a voter preformed their service. Corps which are deemed to be too large to adequately represent its members are split into smaller bodies by the national Elections Council, itself a subdivision of the Agraw which also oversees the dispensation of military sanctions to civilians. All national elections are carried out using a block approval methodology. In addition to legislation, the Agraw also serves as the supreme judicial organ of the Republic overseeing all civilian and military courts in Charnea.

The Amizar is the elective, removable office that acts as chief of the Charnean Army and State. As the military commander in chief, the Amizar exercises total authority over the operations of the Army as well as the state administration. The legitimacy of an Amizar's administration and leadership of the military is legally supported by the Agraw Iktar, which holds the power to instate and recall an Amizar to and from office as the formal representative body of the military. The office has no established term limits, vesting in the Agraw the total authority to dictate how long a specific Amizar may hold the office. The only rule restricting the Agraw's ability to recall an Amizar from office is that a supermajority of 80% of the assembly is required to remove the Amizar if Charnea finds herself in a declared inter-state war, in contrast to the simple majority required in all other circumstances.

Military

Charnean military democracy exists entirely within the parliamentary structure of the Republic and does not interfere with the Army's internal hierarchy.

Geography

The territory of Charnea comprises 2,130,656 square kilometres (822,651 sq mi) of land, making it the largest country in Scipia by land area. Charnea is far larger in its longitudinal expanse than its dimensions in latitude, with its far western tip at the border with Talahara being 3,160 kilometers west of its furthest eastern border section abutting Happara. This entire territory is considered part of the Ninva, the continental desert spanning most of central Scipia of which Charnean territory makes up more than half of its total expanse. More than 90% of the country is classified as arid desert with small portions of the southwest periphery falling under a semi-desert climate classification. The vast majority of this desert expanse has no permanent surface water, with the totality of the surface water in Charnea amounting to 0.0084% of the country's total surface area or roughly 179 square kilometers. Nearly all of this surface water can be found in the Great Oasis in Deshret province as well as parts of Al-Kira river which marks parts of the far eastern border.

Economy

The structure of the Charnean economy follows a highly interventionist model in which the state or more commonly state-affiliated entities take on a major role in directing development. This system of Developmentalism, which has been described as a form of state capitalist, placed great economic power and financial resources in the hands of the state and state-affiliated companies controlled by members of the politically connected great clans of Charnean society. The Developmentalist approach proved to be effective through the first half of the 20th century, successfully transitioning Charnea from a purely extractive economy to a fully industrialized one with significant contributions from the manufacturing sector. During this period, Charnea saw dramatic increases in the urbanization, life expectancy, rates of literacy and education, as well as median incomes and standards of living which have risen to the level of near-parity with the more developed world. However, in its later years the high degree of consolidation and concentration of wealth within the Charnean economy as a result of the Developmentalist model has caused a variety of issues, namely a condition of industrial overspecialization, a lack of diversification, a stagnation of median incomes, and a plethora of social issues stemming from high wealth inequality, all of which has contributed to a slowdown in economic growth. These conditions have largely remained unchanged and in some cases deteriorated further through the upheaval of the Muttay Ajamhuryin, which had the additional effect of shaking investor confidence in the Charnean economy, despite the Republic's efforts to break up the conglomerates and decrease the level of consolidation of the major businesses in Charnea. Escaping the current era of stagnation and safeguarding the advances in standards of living is the self-declared first priority of the Republic's government, and represents a major political imperative.

Mining

Nagamina gold mine in near-eastern Charnea

Resource extraction and processing represents roughly 40% of Charnea's total economic activity and is a highly developed sector of the economy. Mining was the catalyst which kicked off the industrialization of Charnea's desert society, providing the financial impetus for the expansion of the nationwide railway network which was critical to the later stages of urbanization and industrialization and largely enabled the development of the modern Charnean state. By far the most lucrative type of extraction in Charnea is gold mining, which accounts for one fifth (20%) of the national GDP. Gold mining has a long history in Charnea, being one of the main economic activities of the medieval Charnean states and by far the most important export of pre-modern Charnea, dwarfing the value of the dye and salt trade. Today, the largest mine in Charnea is the Nagamina open-pit mine in the western reaches of Adjer province, which was originally a copper mine in which gold was extracted as a byproduct. Some 22,500 kilograms of gold have been extracted from Nagamina to date, alongside nearly 100,000 metric tons of copper ores as well as 100 kilograms of silver, making it one of the largest known mineral deposits in Scipia. Other important gold mines in Charnea include the Mother-and-Son mine and the Karukwar mine, both located in the southern Agala region of Charnea. These are quartz reef deposits which are mined through a system of underground tunnels, in contrast to the open-pit system of the Nagamina mine. All of these gold mines, however, use the same widely accepted processing techniques to extract pure gold from the ores taken out of the earth. These processing techniques are the subject of major controversy as they threaten the local water tables with cyanide and mercury contamination, making the highly lucrative extraction business a threat to the security of the water supply and a highly divisive matter in the national water politics debate.

The mineral wealth of Charnea is concentrated in the Adjer range stretching across Gangara, Ouedmaqqor and the eponymous Adjer province, which forms the bulk of the Adjer-Tenere igneous province. The entire region is home to a variety of important ores bearing a wealth of industrial metals including gold, iron and copper. In recent years, exploration of the region's geological formations has revealed deposits of Laurite, a mineral ore containing ruthenium, osmium, and iridium, which are rare elements highly sought after in the electronics industry, in addition to some amounts of iron and rhodium. Extraction of Laurite in the Harakez valley some 140 kilometers south of Azut began in 2020. The economic potential of Laurite extraction is mostly untapped and represents a potentially lucrative new horizon for the future expansion of the Charnean mining sector.

Tamse refinery in Agnannet, COPEC's largest petrochemical plant

Petroleum extraction makes up another significant component of the Charnean mineral wealth. There are two main oil producing regions in the country, located in the far east and the far western regions of the country. The eastern fields, located in the provinces of Saadia, Hatheria and Zahra, have far larger proven reserves of petroleum and natural gas. However, the eastern regions have suffered from long standing political instability, economic underdevelopment and were the main active front of the Ninvite War some decades past. The destruction of extraction and refining infrastructure by war along with the continuing instability in the region and the threat of the Azdarin Liberation Front has greatly limited and curtailed investment in oil and gas extraction in the region. Conversely, the western fields located mainly in Azalay province are far better explored and have much more infrastructure in place, making them much more economically valuable despite having only a fraction of the reserves of the eastern fields. Oil extraction and processing in Charnea has been nationalized since 1945, consolidated as part of the state-owned energy giant COPEC. Despite the size of the petro-industry in Charnea, the export of oil and gas only accounts for 3% of GDP and less than half of COPEC's yearly earnings. The majority of the oil and gas extracted by COPEC are destined for domestic use primarily as refined petrochemical products needed by many industrial firms in the massive plastics industry in Charnea, as well as the Charnean energy market. 80% of all electricity in Charnea is generated in gas-fired power plants with an additional 16% being generated in power plants burning heavy oil. Both of these fuel types are supplied almost exclusively by COPEC, and the generation plants are themselves owned by a COPEC subsidiary.

Manufacturing

Main production hall of the Aghzu plastics factory, equipped with advanced computerized custom molding equipment

The secondary sector of the Charnean economy is highly consolidated, with more than three quarters of all economic activity within the manufacturing industries being consolidated within just three major conglomerates. These are Ishar, Plexico and Akundar, together known as the "big three". Plexico, an enormous plastics industry corporation, is by far the largest of the big three. It serves as one of the main suppliers of basic as well as complex plastic products on a global scale, accounting for the majority of Charnean exports of plastic products which in total account for some 17% of the national GDP. Plexico's plastic products range from highly complex and heavily engineered medical grade items to cheap mass produced industrial components such as plastic pipes. The company is also one of the largest contributors to the worldwide supply of the plastics industry's most basic material, the pre-production plastic pellets which serve as the main input of all plastic products. Of the big three, Plexico is the most politically connected with an especially close business relationship with COPEC as its main supplier of key petrochemicals for the production of plastic materials. Plexico wields outsized political influence thanks to its status as the largest company in Charnea by revenue and one of the country's largest employers. Plexico grew to this immense size through the constant financial support and legal acquiescence of the Charnean government which invested heavily in growing the domestic plastics industry in the 1960s and and 70s, capitalizing on the incredibly low cost of the petrochemicals in the domestic market needed as inputs for the industry as well as the effects of the demographic dividend which Charnea was experiencing in those decades. The main campuses of Plexico's plastics empire are Aghzu factory located in Agnannet, Aszar in Ekelhoc and the Thalsa facility in Tezzat, all of which are found in close proximity to COPEC refineries and chemical plants which supply these factories with their raw materials. Plexico's monopoly on the Charnean plastics industry stems from its access to the financial rescources of the Charnean state and its international backers, which have allowed it to dominate the market in which other firms struggle to surpass the high financial and technological barriers of entry.

Besides plastics manufacturing which is highly consolidated under Plexico, the Charnean manufacturing sector also includes the production of of vehicles and transportation-related goods, metal products such as copper wire, and other low-complexity consumer grade products which fall under the category of light industry. These sectors are largely consolidated into the Akundar-Ishar duopoly, with neither conglomerate holding or seeking an outright monopoly over any one sector while both entities are subject to economic interdependence as part of a wider industrial oligopoly. Akundar is the main producer of rolling stock through its Agnannet-based subsidiary Akundar Transportation, while Ishar holds a greater degree of market presence among rail operators, giving both companies a great deal of control over the all-important Charnean railway network and the industries which support its infrastructure. The Ahuriri Corporation represents an outside power in the transport-manufacturing industry in Charnea, as an Onekawan firm which has expanded operations of its aircraft manufacturing industry into Charnea in recent years. This move, as well as the investment in the vehicular manufacturing and industrial sectors in general, has been indirectly subsidized by the Charnean defense industry which itself is almost entirely propped up by lucrative contracts awarded by the Charnean Army. Domestic Charnean defense industry firms such as Eruere Enterprises and the Akayon Corporation benefit greatly from the supporting network of industry of the big three as well as the smaller firms.

Agriculture

Main article: Agriculture in Charnea

Agricultural field in the Charnean desert, protected from the wind and sand by a windbreak of palms

As a desert nation, Charnea faces significant challenges in the development of its agriculture and domestic food production. Charnea has extremely low overall rainfall, with most of the nation's water supply coming from groundwater aquifers which are tightly regulated by the Charnean government due to the political and strategic considerations surrounding the extremely sensitive, scarce and crucial resource. In addition, Charnean farmers battle the often terrible physical and chemical characteristics and low fertility of the desert soil. These factors act to hinder the process of cultivation and food production in the desert. Nevertheless, Charnean farmers have persisted despite the adversity and have perfected methods of agriculture specifically adapted to the arid conditions through the millennia of human habitation in the region. Domestic cereal production is centered around the cultivation of millet, barley and flax, especially the native cultivars of these crops which are uniquely hardy and drought resistant making them far better adapted to the conditions than foreign staples such as wheat and rice. Production of mesquite flour from the invasive and widespread honey mesquite tree is common in many parts of the Tenere region of the desert, where it was introduced by Mutulese traders centuries ago. Other arboreal cultivations include date palms for fruit production as well as mastic and gum acacia which produce aromatic resin in high demand both locally and internationally.

The specificities of Charnean agriculture have a significant effect on the diet of the local people, distinguishing their cuisine from that of related Amaziɣ and comparable desert-dwelling peoples such as the Gharibs. For example, Talaharan couscous made from wheat semolina differs noticeably in flavor and consistency from its Charnean equivalent which is made from pearl millet. The Charnean diet and its associated food industries are also highly influenced by the Tenerian traditions of animal husbandry, particularly the herding of camels. This activity has been industrialized and intensified over the last century, although it retains at its core many of the practices of the nomadic ancestors of the modern Tenerians. Camels are widely raised by large family owned enterprises across Charnea for their meat, hide and especially their milk. Charnea is the largest producer of camel milk in the world, with a near totality of this industry's output aimed at the large domestic market for the milk itself as well as the yoghurt that can be made from it.

Charnea is a major importer of foodstuffs and agricultural products, and has been so consistently since the 1940s when urbanization and population growth propelled the demand for food beyond what the Charnean agricultural sector could supply. All Charnean production of foodstuffs through crop cultivation and animal husbandry today accounts for less than half of the total food supply in the country and less than 10% of all economic activity by value, with major imports of non-perishable canned goods, cereal grains, legumes and processed foods accounting for a large portion of the national food supply in Charnea. The cost to import these items by rail from neighboring nations contributes to the inflation of food prices in Charnea, an important political issue for the Charnean government and a source of public unrest in the country. The Charnean state has engaged in a policy of stockpiling reserves of non-perishable and shelf-stable food products in government run warehouses in order to mitigate the economic and political fallout of any serious trade disruption which could send food prices skyrocketing.

Tourism

The Thirteen Heaven Casino

The development of the Charnean tertiary sectors has been based primarily on the tourism industry. From the lavish palaces of the Imperial era to the pre-Imperial ancient monuments of the Tenerian and Deshrian civilizations, Charnea has a great many historically significant and impressive sites which have been converted into tourist attractions, most often by the local communities which rely on the income collected from visitors to sustain themselves. Many enterprises have been established in the rural regions of the country to organize tours aimed at foreign visitors, with the natural beauty of the Charnean desert landscape as the main selling point. As with the historical attractions, these are mainly operated by local families to gain a higher level of income that would otherwise be possible in the native region. These sub-sectors of the tourism industry have been the hardest hit by the dips in tourist travel to Charnea that has come as a result of the country's recent political instability.

By contrast, major hospitality firms operating in the great cities have been only marginally affected thanks to their devoted clientele of foreign visitors. These establishments capitalize on Charnea's legal gambling and prostitution as well as its permissive drug laws to attract visitors, especially from more restrictive parts of the world, to patronize their large casino-resorts. The majority of these hospitality industry establishments can be found in Agnannet and Tanitnet in commercial districts which have a high density of businesses catering specifically to a clientele of foreign visitors. These districts, known in Charnea as Talyat districts, are well known for their safety with the local law enforcement and at times even the local branch of the Charnean Alxalat syndicate paying special attention to the safety of foreign visitors from all forms of crime and even petty harassment. Tourism is a relatively non-consolidated industry, making it somewhat unique in the landscape of the Charnean economy, with very few establishments being part of any sort of wider company or chain. The Ishar Consortium is the only major Charnean corporation to have entered into the tourism industry, operatingtwo casino-resorts in Tanitnet and one in Agnannet. For the most part, the tourism industry in Charnea is dominated by small-scale entrepreneurship driven by individual owner-operators or in some cases family-ownership.

Demographics

Religion

Religion in Charnea
Religion			Percent
Ashni Addin			71%
Coptic Nazarism			8%
Judaism			2%
Timal Ibaran			12%
Other			2%

Occupying the central position of the Scipian continent at the confluence of its ancient trade routes, Charnea is and has always been a religiously diverse place. Temples of the ancient Deshrian religion are among the oldest surviving manmade structuctures in Charnea, and indeed the entire world. A large number of Deshrians today follow the Coptic sect of Nazarism originating in Tyreseia. An older Abrahamic faith, Judaism first appeared in the lands of Charnea some time during the reign of Queen Kaharna in the 5th century BCE, in the form of exiles fleeing the land today known as Yisrael. According to surviving jewish texts from this era, the exiles were welcomed by the Amazigh Queen and granted refuge in the desert cities of old Tamazgha. These Charnean jews would, over the ensuing millenia, the community could become concentrated in the central Charnean regions of Achra and the White Desert. The modern population of these Charnean Jews, termed Kel Udayen in the local dialect, is over 1 million. A comparatively much more recent religious introduction but one no less relevant than its ancient counterparts was the first appearance of the White Path, a Mutulese religion propagated in Charnea by a semi-mythical figure known as the Desert Oracle in the 17th century. The White Path, or Timal Ibaran as it is known in Tamashek, experienced a rapid increase in popularity, secretly encouraged by the rulers of the Awakari Empire, today becoming the second largest religion in Charnea and fostering close cultural ties to otherwise distant Mutul. The final, largest and newest Charnean religion is Ashni Addin, the "Blood Doctrine", seeing its origin in the early 18th century as a syncretic religious movement of White Pilgrim Tenerians. Ashniism combines cosmological, philosophical and theological aspects primarily of the White path and Neterism, but also influences of Ashkan Judaism and Azdarin and even ancient Tenerian folk religion. It grew extremely quickly amongst the Ajamite and Aɣremite populations in Charnea, rapidly becoming the majority religion by the end of the 18th and begining of the 19th centuries and retaining this title to the present day, having even converted portions of the Gharib and Deshrian populace from their traditional ethnic religions. This Charnean interpretation of the White Path is by far the majority of the Sakbeists in the country, while the remaining adherents of the more orthodox Mutli version are termed Shaddijnen or "Puritans" and are mainly found among the more militaristic of the Kel Ajama.